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03 28 Basic Definitions

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66 views4 pages

03 28 Basic Definitions

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JaZz SF
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Math 38 - Graph Theory Nadia Lafrenière

Basic definitions and some problems 03/28/2022


Can you draw these pictures, without ever crossing your path?

Can you draw this picture without ever lifting your pencil?

These are children problems, but also real-life problems in graph


theory, namely to know whether a graph is planar, or similar to
know if a graph is Eulerian.

The first problem: Seven bridges of Königsberg (Euler, 1736)

Euler was wondering if one can go


from one place in the Königsberg
area, and back to that original
place, by taking every bridge
exactly once.

(This is considered to be the first


solved problem in graph theory).

A modelisation of the problem:

This graph model the


areas of the city. There
is no need to know the
exact location of each
bridge.

Remarks:
- Since we have to go back where we started, we do not care where
we start.
- Everytime we go from a location to another and back, we cross 2
bridges adjacent to that location.
Since every island has an odd number of bridges, it is not possible 2
to visit all the islands by taking every bridge exactly once.

Some definitions
A graph G is made of a set of vertices (modeling some objects), and
a set of relations between two vertices, called the edges. We denote
G = (V,E) for the graph with vertices V and edges E. Any edge is a
pair of two vertices called the endpoints.

We draw a graph (on paper or on the computer) by representing the


vertices as points, and we draw a curve between two vertices if they
are endpoints of the same edge. We can draw differently the same
graph.

Example

A loop is an edge whose endpoints are the same vertex.


Multiple edges are edges having the same pair of endpoints.
A simple graph is a graph having no loop nor multiple edges.

Simple graph
Not simple graphs

When uv (or equivalently) vu is an edge, we say the vertices u and


v are adjacent, or that they are neighbors.

Subgraphs and containment


A graph G'=(V',E') is a subgraph of G=(V,E) if V'⊆ V and E'⊆E.
We then say that G' is contained in G, denoted G'⊆G.
Example 3
Every graph with n vertices is a subgraph of the complete graph with
m≥n vertices.

A graph is connected if, for every pair of vertices, there is a path


(i.e. a sequence of edges) between them that belongs to the graph.
It is otherwise disconnected.

Some important problems in graph theory


1. Acquaintances
Do every set of six people contain at least three mutual acquaintances
or three mutual strangers?

That question can be represented using a graph. Every person is a


vertex, and there is an edge between two persons if they know
each other. Here, we assume knowing each other is a mutual relation,
i.e. knowing a celebrity usually does not count.

Two graphs. The first one is a


5-vertex graph with no three mutual
strangers, nor three acquaintances.
As a homework, you will have The second one has six vertices, and
to prove your solution to this contain both three mutual strangers
statement. and three acquaintances (a clique).

Some useful vocabulary:


A clique in a graph is a set of pairwise adjacent vertices, i.e. a
complete subgraph.
An independent set is a subset of vertices with no adjacent pairs.

A clique
An independent set

2. Job assignments
If there are m jobs and n people, not all qualified for all the jobs,
is there a way we can fill all the jobs?

Definition
A bipartite graph is the disjoint union of two independent sets.
4
The edges are between a job and
people
a qualified person for that job.
jobs

(The jobs cannot all be filled in this example).

3. Scheduling and avoiding conflicts


My high school used to have a very long exam sessions at the end of
the year, and there were still some conflicts. I wish the administrators
knew graph theory...

Vertices: Subjects
English History
Edges: If someone takes both subjects,
Physical
Education
i.e. eventual scheduling conflicts.
Math A coloring of a graph is a partition of
Chemistry
a set into independent sets. Scheduling
with no conflicts is equivalent to coloring.
Schedule:
If we want to use the minimum time, we
1. History-English-PE
should use as few colors as possible.
2. Chemistry
3. Math

Reference: Douglas B. West. Introduction to graph theory, 2nd


edition, 2001. Sections 1.1.1 and 1.1.2.

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